Thursday October 6th

We finally had our court date at 10:00 am on Wednesday October 5th. All went relatively smoothly except the hearing started late. We didn't get done until around 1:00pm. It was really surreal. The courtrom is very plain, bare walls, and the judge's "bench" looks like a $95 put- it- together- your-self-desk from Walmart.... Lack of funds I suppose.
We had planned on asking for a waiver of the 10 day waiting period following the judgment. We understood because of the change in the law it was unlikely to be granted. I (Darren) had asked our reps to ask for this anyway...it NEVER hurts to ask!!They said no formal petition was needed and that we could simply ask at the hearing but because of the change in the law it would not be granted because the wait was "mandatory". The reason for the 10 days is for parties to appeal. To get around that I asked the other parties, local gov't rep, orphanage lawyer, and local prosecutor to waive on the record their rights to a ten day appeal period thereby rendering moot any need for the waiting period. (two of the lawyers were only 20 years old,,,lots of training needed here!) The local gov't rep even prepared a formal petition for us even though she did not have to. We were then told before the hearing that it was too late to file the request. Our translator/rep told us that the judge said if we filed the reqest it would be considered an amended petition and would require a new hearing date at least a week later. Our rep said it didn't matter because the request would "never" be granted by any judge, let alone this one. I was not a happy camper. In any event we opted against any more delays and didn't request the waiver on the record.
The hearing went fine and we were given a conditional order of adoption which will be final after ten days, which falls on a weekend, thereby meaning its actually 12 days from the judgment. We were happy of course but it seems a little silly that you are granted an adoption but then can't go pick up your child for ten days!
We then went to the orphanage. Connor was really playful! He is such a joy. He was singing, I guess in Russian baby talk, laughing and being quite the boy. He also managed to accidently head butt me and split my lip... he got a big laugh out of that. Boys will be boys! He also ate his "cookas" as usual and looked at family pictures again. We think he even said "dada" when looking at mine! Its probably russian for idiot!! We love him so much!!!!
Later we found out from a German couple adopting that the couple from New York not only had their hearing on Monday but got the ten day waiting period waived by a different judge. They had gotten here the day before us. They are probably on their way home from Kiev by now. They apparently did ask for the waiver and were successful...hmmm...I seem to remember some non lawyer telling me something about a "mandatory" something or other that no chance would ever be granted. After that we had a little dispute with our rep about the whole situation.. we at least wanted to have asked. Then after the row she called her boss..who in turn then called the judge..who then decided we were granted a 9 day waiting period. The judge backdated the appeal time starting point to before the judgment hearing date by starting instead with when the judge received a 10/3 letter from the National Adoption Center. Bizzare!! Ned will understand. The saga continues............